Revenge Of The Bright Blue Bowl
An Andership Township, Ohio couple got revenge when their zoning board got prissy about them putting up a six-foot fence around their own property. First, the board told them they'd have to get a zoning variance to do it:
We had to pay a fee of $250 for the hearing and the Twp runs an add in the paper announcing the hearing, sends letters to all our neighbors within 200 ft. of our property and puts a cute little sign in our front yard about the hearing. Oh yeah and we had to submit a lot of paperwork. And make 10 copies.A few days before the hearing we get an official letter from the Development Service Staff with their findings recommending to the Zoning Appeals Board that we get the requested variance because the fence would look best coming off the corner of the house. Also it would be fair to us to be able to use most of our back yard. So we go to the hearing.
Let’s pause a moment to review our Twp government structure. Anderson Twp residents elect a Board of Trustees. (For interesting info on Trustees politics click here). This Board appoints five residents to the Zoning Appeals Board. Three are appointed for 5 years and the other 2 are called alternates and appointed for 1 year. This is a political appointment, "cronyism", no credentials or experience in zoning required. For instance one current board member is a veterinarian. The Development Service Staff are hired professionals who give their recommendations to the Zoning Board of Appeals. Get it?
So now we are back at the hearing. First the Development guy gives his recommendation (I should get my fence 21 ft. from the road), then I present my case (simple, I want some privacy since you are running that stupid sidewalk through my yard and I want to use as much of my back yard as I can), then people who wish to speak in favor of the variance (a neighbor I didn’t know before this hearing said the place was an eyesore before we moved in, we are good neighbors, we did a good job improving the outside and give us our fence).
There was no one at the hearing to speak against us. We had one letter in favor of the variance and one letter against. The letter against was from our neighbor whose house runs along the back of our yard. They have no windows or doors on the side of the house and there is a line of trees and tall brush that runs the length of the property. In other words they can’t even see the yard unless they are driving by in a car. They wanted my yard to be open because it “would fit in with the look and feel of Anderson Twp.” They wanted us to plant 6 ft. trees instead. Trees don’t give privacy and what little they do give is years away. And it’s much more expensive than a fence.
Back to the Board who asked me all kinds of questions about what kind of landscaping I was planning on planting on the outside of the fence. I had some suggestions they didn’t like and I said that I would be agreeable to what they might want to plant. They never addressed the recommendation from the Development Services people or the fact that I could choose to run the fence 45 ft. into my yard. Their decision was to deny the variance. One board member used the quote from my objecting neighbor. The "look and feel" crap.
Which finally brings us to the toilets. Around sixteen running the length of our back yard where the fence would have been. We thought we should get some decorations or else it would just be a bunch of toilets. So we turned them into yard art. Planters to be exact. But we were mindful of the concerns of the Appeals Board. When we were discussing landscaping for the fence, they wanted it to be evergreen. So we have cemented various plastic flowers and greenery to the bowls so that they can remain evergreen (and red, pink, purple, etc).
link via BoingBoing/permission to use the photos granted by Robin Sutton and Allen Lade
Brilliant!!!
deja pseu at April 17, 2006 4:38 PM
You can't beat City Hall, but you sure can thumb your nose at them in a clever way. Bravo.
Gary at April 18, 2006 6:16 PM
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